Elon Musk’s guest-hosting gig on “Saturday Night Live” may have been a controversial choice for the network, yet it was the third most-watched “SNL” episode of the season.
However, it wasn’t all good news. Musk made some jokes about Dogecoin during his appearance, which ultimately had the opposite effect on the cryptocurrency. Dogecoin crashed by more than 22 percent during the first hour of the show, from 66 cents to 51 cents.
Even the next day, it remained volatile, falling to as low as 43 cents on Sunday before rebounding. Additionally, many reviews were less than kind about Musk’s performance, calling him ‘awkward’ and ‘unfunny.’
Yet, his time on the show garnered an average of 7.3 million viewers, making it the third most-watched episode of the season. His episode follows the ones hosted by Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock.
On Saturday, he opened the show with a monologue that included a Mother’s Day-inspired exchange with his own mom, who cringed when he said that Dogecoin would be her gift for the holiday.
Elon Musk Explains Dogecoin in ‘Weekend Update’ Sketch
During the “Weekend Update” sketch, Elon Musk appeared as a fake financial analyst, Lloyd Ostertag. During the sketch, he gave a long-winded description of Dogecoin as the future of money.
“They’re a type of digital money but instead of being controlled by a central Government, they’re decentralized using blockchain technology,” he explains, letting out a laugh. “And lately prices have been soaring for cryptos like Bitcoin, Ethereum and especially Dogecoin.”
He added, “It actually started as a joke based on an internet meme, but no it’s taken off in a very real way.’ Che then repeats his initial question: “Yeah, but what is Dogecoin?’
The pair banter for several moments, as Elon Musk’s character, appears to get exhausted with each answer. Eventually, Che asks, “So it’s a hustle?” to which Musk’s character replied with, “Yeah, it’s a hustle.”
Dogecoin, which first began as a joke in 2013, has now garnered newfound popularity. It was valued at less than one cent at the start of 2021. In the last week, it’s grown 12,000 percent. During his opening monologue, Musk also revealed that he has Asperger’s, an autism spectrum disorder.
‘I’m actually making history tonight as the first person with Asperger’s to host SNL. Or at least the first to admit it. So I won’t make a lot of eye contact with the cast tonight,” Musk said in his monologue.
